For the past decade, Oregon-style beer has flowed into pint glasses in Valencia, Spain. Meet Mauricio Mata. Like many of us, he discovered home brewing on the weekends while living in Salem. Life challenges sent him to Spain for three months to reevaluate his life plan.

Spirits of the past are present everywhere. They dwell in our lands, haunt our historic buildings and cemeteries, and inhabit our songs, literature, films and holy texts. From ancient Egypt to today’s pop culture, stories of ghosts, apparitions and spirits— whatever you call them—are found in nearly every society and every religion.

I have to confess that I’m a science geek. And since 1996, I’ve been expressing my science geekiness with a high altitude balloon program that I refer to as a poorman’s space program. Essentially, it means I launch weather balloons with radio tracking equipment and automated experiments to explore the heavens, atmosphere, and ground.